~ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you … John 13:34

What do we deserve?

I do enjoy the new voices with different traditions that have come here recently to converse, although, in many ways with their short departure, I believe they lack the understanding of this community, a once a community of Christians. It was a place a both peaceful tension; a both/and, and many of those voices who made it such have left for various reasons. Here, I’ve come across one of the voices of a Baptist that I’ve missed Geoffrey RS Sales on original sin and justification–may his voice add to our conversation on Free Will, Divine Sovereignty, and Original Sin.

My understanding of the answer to this question in a Christian context is ‘hell-fire’. You can take whatever understanding your tradition gives you of original sin and theorise, but I don’t think you can take your own life and get away from the conclusion that you have not followed God’s ways. I may be preaching here to a bunch of folks who are outraged by such a suggestion, and who have so conducted themselves that they ‘deserve’ salvation. But were that the case Paul need not have written Romans, and, indeed, Christ need not have hung on that Cross. You can take whatever theory of the atonement your tradition offers you, but I don’t see you can escape having to have some theory, and that theory has to encompass the idea, outrageous to the unsaved, that Christ suffered and died for us – yes, for me, and for you, and…

BTW: as luck would have it, I was given the grace to attend the Traditional Latin Mass today with the most holy Fr. James Buckley FSSP retired. What an inspiration and glad that I had the good fortune to meet with him again before one of us dies. He needs help genuflecting but he still does it and all the other good things a great priest does. After Mass he went to a pew and went into silent prayer for about 15 minutes or more before I was able to approach him. What a man to emulate in life!